Steve Weissman’s Op-ed in the Miami Herald explains that so called “price transparency” laws, where average prices are required to be made public instead of actual, real prices, is designed to trick patients into believing that their elected representatives are trying to correct the oppressive predatory healthcare pricing system. In actuality, these laws allow the healthcare industry to continue predatory pricing, which means the complete avoidance of actual stated prices and price competition. Until the bill arrives, every patients continues to remain in the dark as to the amount to be charged to them. Such laws, which are growing in popularity nationally, require the substantially useless disclosure of “average prices” – which is unlikely to be indicative of your actual price. Patients have a right to real prices for healthcare – just like every other product or service sold in the USA. Considering that your price can easily vary by a factor of 10, depending on whether you have insurance and the insurer, disclosure of average prices is at best a tease; an insult to public intelligence.